“Who would know?” Early on in the 1966 film, A Man for All Seasons, a young man by the name of Richard Rich is hanging around the household of Thomas More. Thomas More is a judge and Rich hopes that More’s influence can lead the young man to aContinue Reading
“the devil preys upon our human weaknesses by exploiting our differences” The Holy Sepulcher Since the 18th century the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been managed jointly by a complex system of “zones” governed by six different Christian denominations, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox,Continue Reading
“The ‘Little Way’ of St. Therese is a way of consecrating our most mundane and ordinary tasks to God, whether it is washing clothes or opening a door for another or saving a starfish” Saving Starfish One night a violent storm blew in from the sea and stranded thousands ofContinue Reading
“When we accept the Kingdom of God into our hearts, we accept self-denial. We no longer do things according to our will; we give ourselves completely over to the will of God.” The Old Man’s Son An elderly man lay dying in a hospital. He had suffered a heartContinue Reading
“To be sacred or holy, means to be set apart. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we remove ourselves from the world.” The Desert Fathers were hermits that withdrew from the world to focus on the contemplation of God and deny themselves every worldly comfort. One day, one of theseContinue Reading
“the Gospel must first be preached to all nations.” Emperor Valens From the beginning, Christians have suffered persecution in one form or another. But that persecution does not always come from the outside, sometimes it comes from within. In A.D. 364, Flavius Julius Valens Augustus, known to history as Valens,Continue Reading
“St. James illustrates for us two paths of spirituality that we must keep in balance.” Two Monks Two monks were traveling through a forest on foot, making their way back to their monastery. Recent rains had made the rivers and streams swollen with fast moving currents. As they approached oneContinue Reading
“The work of the Church)…is to build the Kingdom of God, to bring more and more people into the friendship of Christ” The Woman Clothed with the Sun Titus Flavius Domitianus, known to history as Domitian, became emperor of Rome in A.D. 81. He was the first emperor to proclaimContinue Reading
“God requires us to bring the gifts that we have, however small or meager, so that His love can transform it and return it to us in good measure, flowing over.” G.K. Chesterton once said, “anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.” In other words, if we feel called toContinue Reading
“Truth is truth to the end of reckoning,” William Shakespeare. A trio of stories concerning Truth. The Devil One day the devil was walking along with one of his demons when they saw a man ahead of them bend down and pick up something shiny. “What did he find?” askedContinue Reading